Who is the Real Customer ?

Finally, I began to write my next post. A very big thanks to BRM Prof. This post is a bit different from my previous posts because I am writing this while sitting in the class. And the class is about ___. I don’t know anything about this subject, but still I am not able to even act like listening. Till now, I was reading newspaper in the class. Hey CEG guys “Don’t ask me why I am doing the same thing (which I did in almost all my U.G classes.) even in IIT.” The answer is “Nothing is perfect in this imperfect world. Even some IIT Profs’ classes are pathetic.” Actually the mood of the entire class was like as if they were in the railway station. Most of the students were reading newspapers; some people were sleeping with their eyes closed and some with open eyes (because of tired weekends). Anyway thanks to some of the people who were listening and some who were acting as if they were.......

Suddenly a raised voice saying “You cannot read newspapers in the class”. For the first time in the class all the heads (including mine) raised and the question in my mind was “Is the Prof. referring to me.” Thank god I was not the one. Sorry sir- This was that student’s reply. Even though the Prof. was teaching about the Ethical Issues in Business research he didn’t ask “Is it ethical to read newspaper in the class”.

The Prof. started saying “It’s not justified” and added “there are 5 marks for attendance and 5 marks for class participation”. Then one student asked “Sir, can active listening be a part of participation?”

Then after some 10 minutes of dozing off, his loud voice acted as an alarm for me, what he was saying at that time was “You guys have to respect and understand from the teachers’ perspective. It’s very difficult to shout (he himself used this word) for 2 hours”.

Now I thought of asking “That’s what you are being paid for”. Shouting/teaching for 2 hours is difficult, but listening for 2 hours (sometimes even for 8 hours) is much more difficult (sometimes painful) than shouting. By shouting he is getting at least money. What about us?? We are not getting anything other than good sleep (after all we are also paying for that).

One of the CEG Professors told that “You the students are the customers!!!”
Now the question is - Are the students the real customers??? If it is so – Are they treated as customers??

I can say that teachers are products, because some of the products (read teachers) are really having a very high demand.

But teachers can argue that they are doctors and listening is like a pill. Anyway as customers we are ready to take the pill as long as it is not a sleeping pill.

We do understand the teachers’ pain and respect them. That is why I stopped reading newspaper in his class and writing this piece.

The final question is – When will the teacher understand their customers or when will they realize that the students are their customers??? I stop here because the class is over.

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